Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Catch Me (and my Boy Pants) on Made By Rae!

Rae and Dana from MADE are working together on a
month-long series of themed posts to celebrate the
boys in our lives. I was so tickled to invited to join
in the fun - me, with my houseful of pink-obsessed
princesses and their poor outnumbered father. You all
know I sew only girl clothes and the occasional gender-
neutral toy but I combed my archives and picked out
some things that might be fun for boys (and their
parents) to make- so head over there to see!

Also, to keep my promise here, I made boy pants!
Just for you (not because anyone in our house
will actually wear them).

This tutorial has a three purposes:

One,
there is a pattern for a 3-year-old size
that you can print out.

Two, it may help you turn your own favorite pants pattern
into a technically-reversible, fully-lined
thingummy with turned-up buttoned cuffs.

Three,
it could be the beginning of a
who-knows-when-I'll-pick-it-up-again
series on How To Sew Pockets.

Ready? Here we go!

First, here's the pattern for a tall 3-year old
(she's 39" tall), and the pattern instruction sheet:

2 Wherever you see "cut 2", remember that the pieces are mirror images (i.e. left and right sides).

3 I used three fabrics:

the main fabric is a tan twill (3/4 yard)

the accent fabric is a brown ticking (1/4 yard)

the lining fabric is white muslin, because that was what I had in the house (3/4 yard).

4 If you line the pants according to the tutorial, you will not need to finish any raw edges - they'll all be tucked away inside the lining. With the exception of the front pocket facing, you won't need a serger - and even the edges of said pocket facing can be dealt with using a french seam.It is also completely possible to make these pants from one fabric (1 yard) or a main+accent fabric combination (3/4 yard of each). With the former, you would have unlined pants. So you might want to use fell seams so they look nice when turned up at the cuff. With the latter, the entire garment is lined with the accent fabric.

Sew the pocket accent fabric onto one muslin pocket piece (left in the picture). Set aside.

With right sides facing, pin the muslin pocket facing to the front of the pants and sew along the diagonal pocket line (right in picture). Press seam and turn over to right side. Top-stitch along the pocket edge. In the next step, you will be layering these two parts of the pocket.

Step 3

Place the front of the pants from Step 2 on top of the accent pocket piece (also from Step 2) so the top and side seams line up. Pin in place. Flip up the front of the pants to expose the muslin pocket facing pieces and sew their edges together. Trim to shape if needed. Finish the edges with serger, zig-zag stitch or use a french seam.

Flip back the front of the pants over the muslin pocket and sew close to the top (waistband) and side edges to secure the top and side of the pocket to the front of the pants.

Step 4

Repeat Steps 2-3 to complete the other pocket.

The hardest part is over!Now for the easy stuff:

Step 5

Make the inner layer of the pants - attach the accent cuff fabric to the muslin lining piece.

Repeat to make the three other inner pieces.

Step 6

Pair one back piece with one corresponding front piece, right sides facing, and sew the inseam and side seam, forming a leg tube. Repeat for the other leg.

Step 7

Turn one leg tube right side out

and insert it into the other tube, so that the right sides are touching each other.

Step 8

Line up the curved crotch edges and sew up the crotch seam. Notch, snip or pink the edges for turning out.

Step 9

Turn right side out and marvel at how it already looks like a pair of pants!

Step 10

Repeat steps 6-7 for the outer pants.

Top-stitch along the seams for durability and a nice decorative effect - single along the crotch seam and double along the side seams and inseams.

Step 11

Insert the inner pants into the outer pants so the raw seam allowances are sandwiched between them and hidden away.

Line up the side seams and inseams of the layers of each leg.

Fold in (ironing helps) the hem allowance of both layers and top-stitch all around the bottom opening of each leg.

Step 12

Fold the waistband lengthwise in half and press to get the midline.

Working with the entire garment inside out now, line up the waist/top edges of both layers of the pants and match the side and crotch seams.

Line up one long edge of the waistband with the top edge of the garment, so that the ends meet at the middle back. The right side of the waistband should be facing the right side of the inner pants.

Sew all around the top edge to secure. You can either sew the short ends of the waistband together before doing this, if you have measured the circumference to exactly fit the waist of the garment, or sew the ends together after attaching most of the waistband to the garment.

Step 13

Fold the waistband along the midline and over to the outside of the garment.

Fold in the seam allowance and top stitch the waistband onto the outside of the garment, leaving an opening for the elastic.

Step 14

Insert elastic, sew ends together and stitch up the opening.

Note: I added two small buttonholes (I didn't have grommets) to the front of the waistband, for a drawstring cord later. This is optional but if you intend to do this too, remember to sew the buttonholes/ insert grommets before Step 12.

Step 15

Tucking under the raw (top) edge of the cuff strap, sew it onto the inner side seam of the leg. The bottom tip of the cuff strap should not protrude below the hem of the pants. I sewed a little square pattern.

Turn pants right side out and sew the button right in the middle of that square, on the outside of the pants.

All done!

Front and back

Taking the time for all that top-stitching

will really be worth it.

With much wiggling and some bribery, I got Jenna to model the pants for photos. So if you see frosty pink toenails, don't be surprised.

They rode a little low on her hips today because
I didn't take the time to actually buy the
shoelace-drawstring cord, let alone insert it.

I love the casual look of those cuffs folded up (screams Summer! Beach! Boat dock! Ice cream!) but these pants
look pretty smart folded down too

Oh, thank you. Brought back memories of similar pants I made for my boys long ago. They can even go a bit dressy if you make a matching vest. I so want to make these but my boys are teenagers now. Lovely tutorial. Thanks for the details.

What a fabulous tutorial - not to wait for my son to be three so I can make him some!! Might have to become a follower if all your tutorials are as fabulous as this one - thanks so much for your generosity in sharing.

I love these! I don't have any little boys to sew for but I will be making these for my little lady. I read through all of the instructions and they are so thorough. You take your reader through each step and the details are great. Thanks.

Oh I love these! The pants look absolutely gorgeous. Will come in handy in a year or two. :) I have been fretting about how it's so boring to sew for boys but look what you have done! Love the fabric too.

So darn cute! Thank you so much for the tute. My daughter is only just turning one, but I'll have this stashed away in my collection for the right time!! She's proving to be a dirt digger and mud-puddle-stomper thus far so these will be so cute and perfect!

OMG! I love these! Thanks so much for the tutorial. My boys are a lot shorter than your three year old. They are both about the size of a two year old and they are three and five. How should I modify the measurements?

Thank you so much for this tutorial! LOVE these pants, made a pair with owl flannel accent for my boy, and just cut out some kitty cat ones for a friend. I discovered they're the perfect size to cut out from old pairs of my husbands pants. Just lay front and back on each leg and cut. greast way to recycle, and it's the perfect amount!

hi, i will very much try your pattern. but i printet it and is this realy 3 years, I put on a pants in europe size 86 and it fit, i was thninking to shrink it to my boy on 2 but now i dont know :) sorry poor english , from norway

These are too cute - and I'm glad your little model prefers pink, 'cause I have a little girl that I'd love to try these out on! I linked to this on my weekly roundup. And your horse and unicorn food. And the foam dirt. And the foam sofa (which I am SO with you on - I've loved them from afar but hate the characters). I promise I'm not a crazy stalker, I just think you do cute stuff!! :>) Thanks for sharing -

Boys need cute clothes too! Thank you so much! I can't wait to make these for my son. It's not easy to find inspiring patterns for boys clothing, most are very bland. I love all the extra little details, and they will be perfect for using up my thrift-store clothes that I buy for the fabric.

I'm coming up on the end of sewing up a pair of these gorgeous pants, and I have a question! How on earth do you top stitch the exterior seams? I'm looking at it, and it's just not making any sense to me! Is there some simple thing I'm missing? I just can't figure how to top stitch these buggers with the pants already... well... pants-y!

Care, I top-stitched the outer pants in this sequence:First, I sewed and double top-stitched the outer/side seam of each leg. Second, I sewed the inseam of each leg.Third, I turned each leg inside out and double-top-stitched the inseams. This part takes a bit of fabric manipulation with the sewing machine!Fourth, I sewed the crotch seam.Fifth, I single-top-stitched the crotch seam.

These are adorable! I've featured them in a boy's handmade clothing spring wardrobe roundup on my blog, The Handmade Experiment. http://emilyflippinmaruna.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/must-have-monday-boys-spring-wardrobe/ Check it out and let me know what you think. If you're interested, feel free to grab one of my featured on link buttons from my left side bar.

I love these! I was looking for a pdf pattern to buy to make my son some pants, but this came up when I was searching Google. It's better than any of the patterns I was looking at to buy. Thank you!!~Jenny~

hey this is yusra...these are wonderful... i'm gonna make it for my son's second birthday... i also wanted to know if you can show us how to make the frilly pirate style shirts... with frills as collars and sleeves... tht would be a big help too... i wanted to make those for my son's birthday... its on july fourth... i'll constantly be checking your page for that one... hoping for the best...thanks alot already... :)

I finally sewed some overalls for my very girly girl who has been going through a no-pants phase -- refusing to wear jeans or any of her brother's handed-down pants. So we have gone through this winter with thick tights, leggings, and now these, which are a morphing of your overalls and pants tutorials. They are the only pants she will willingly put on; the main fabric is deco weight from IKEA; pink dotted flannel is an old recieving blanket. The black and white check is printed, not woven, cut-offs from my husband's chef pants. I'm in love with my snap pliers atm so the room-to-grow details feature adjustable strap length and a snapped waistband extension as well as the contrast cuffs. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1487813947785.2064966.1007016911&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=2769582791205&set=a.1487813947785.2064966.1007016911&type=3&theaterI'm not sure if the picture link will work, but hope you like it!

Hi LiEr, I am hoping that I can make these wonderful pants, the shortalls I made last week rock - thanks so much for posting your patterns. I'm a bit worried about the pants size though. The instructions say they are made to fit a tall 3 year old and the pic of her wearing them with the cuffs down show the hem right to the top of her feet. My print out of the pattern has the (without seam allowances) inseam at 12.5" - is this right? I don't have a toddler to measure but everything I've found says 3T inseam is around 16". I would appreciate some help from anyone who has made these cool pants.....

Hi SewFun - yes, that's about right (12.5", I mean). The hem does go down to the ankle, which means that when the cuff is rolled up, it's mid-calf. The pants are not slouchy, ankle-cuff pants i.e. there isn't room for vertical growth. The cuff is meant to bring the hem up to capri sort of length. I don't know about the standard inseam measurements, unfortunately - so it could very well be that these pants are too short for other three year olds. Or it could be that my Jenna wasn't as tall a three year old as I thought! I wonder if other people who have tried this pattern can weigh in?

This may be too late to help, but my daughter is a month shy of 3 years old and is 36" tall, which I think is around 25% percentile. Her outseam is 19" and inseam is 13.5" If you don't have a toddler to measure, I recommend measuring a store brand pair of pants.

You aсtually make it seem so еasy alоng with youг presеntation hоweνer I find thіs mattеr to bе rеally οne thing whiсh I believe I might never understand.It seems too complicated аnd еxtгemеly large for me.I'm having a look forward in your subsequent post, I will attempt to get the cling of it!

I have just made these pants for my grandson out of some old jeans of mine and an old shirt of my husbands. I used the shirt pocket on the back but cut down in size. They look absolutely great. Thanks allot for the pattern and instructions. Easy to follow.Look forward to other patterns.If your coming to New Zealand look at our website panoramahomestay.co.nz

I have just made these pants for my 31 month old. I used the pattern as it is, rather than add any seam allowances as he is small for his age and I thought they would work out right. I should have measured though, the pattern is great, but I've found the waist is not high enough at the back, so he has his bum permanently showing! Not a good look :) I'd say the pattern is on the small side. Definitely measure first, and you may need to add some to make the waist band higher. I will make another pair for him though as I love the pattern!

I am really having a hard time figuring out the pockets in these... i picked two fabrics so i could make them reversible, but it is not clear which fabric goes which way. Or my husband i are pattern dunces. Help.

I know this is an old post, so I don't know if you'll see this comment... I just used this waistband technique on a pair of corduroy (lined with knit!) pants for my son -- and I *love* the technique. It looks awesome!! Much better than my previous technique. Also thanks to you I have decided to try sewing with knits. I bought a stretch needle for my machine and one yard of knit fabric and so far I like it. Thanks again.

Hi. Great tutorial. I just have one question though... Is the back part of the pants larger than the front one? I printed in "real size" on my printer but the back part is waaaay bigger, so I wonder. Sorry if it already was answered, I didn't read all the comments, too many ;) Thank you in advance for your response.Jules

Wouldn't the liner have to be inside out before inserting them into the outer pants for sewing? This way the wrong sides of both would be touching each other. Then when the cuff is flipped outward the right side of the liner would be seen.

Hello and Welcome!

I am a gratefully unemployed mom of three girls, all of whom are growing up much too soon! I like piles of warm, fresh laundry, the smell of salt air near the beach where I used to live, making lists, anything round (like heads) and the quiet evenings sitting with the man of the house after the kids are in bed.

Copyright

You are welcome to link to this blog and to any post on this blog and use ONE or TWO photos for that purpose. Do not use photos of my children. You are welcome to pin images from my blog, if those photos do not have my children's faces in them. Please contact me if you want to use the text on, or more photos from, this blog. Do not post my tutorials on your sites. Do not translate tutorials from this blog into other languages on your site. The ideas and instructions in the tutorials are free - but please use them to only make stuff for yourself or for gifts and not to sell. Ta! For more information, this and this might be helpful.